How difficult is it for top fighters to adapt their game?

[Niels]

Sometimes top fighters have holes in their game which get exposed, but after so many years of fighting that way how difficult is it to change their game?

I’ll use one of my favourite fighters as an example => Bisping exposed Rockhold dropping his right hand all the time, in his next fight against Branch he did the same thing (even though it was a flurry of jabs forcing him against the fence), he did the same thing against Romero, even though i don’t think the right hand was the cause of that loss.

Rockhold even changed camps to train with Hooft for a time.

So how fast will he be able to adapt and how would he best do that?

+

Another example is Ngannou, a huge hype before Stiopic, will he be able to get his wrestling together?

 

[Cpt Migraine]

Holes is a big word.. most fighters cant throw lukes question mark kick or heavy gnp.. is that a hole?

Ngannou's got almost super human power.. is that a hole in other fighters game if they don't have his power?

No fighter will ever be complete, some will get close and rack up a good record but there are always holes..

"Why doesn't he just lower his stance, switch to south paw and work 2 years with olympic wrestlers while maintaining his good traits and stop throwing kicks, then he wouldn't be so easy to take down" - some people about a great striker that once lost to a wrestler..

They aren't super heroes..

 

[Dark Individual]

I'd say it depends on where they are in their career. For example Anderson Silva's weakness was wrestling, he was great in all other areas but nobody expects him to develop now in that area. Then Conor has made all that moneyh already so I don't expect him to now run in the mountains for hours and doing extreme shit to improve his cardio. So basically if your still relatively new, you are a lot more likely to improve in areas that you are weak in.

 

[smiles mma]

Holes is a big word.. most fighters cant throw lukes question mark kick or heavy gnp.. is that a hole?

Ngannou's got almost super human power.. is that a hole in other fighters game if they don't have his power?

No fighter will ever be complete, some will get close and rack up a good record but there are always holes..

"Why doesn't he just lower his stance, switch to south paw and work 2 years with olympic wrestlers while maintaining his good traits and stop throwing kicks, then he wouldn't be so easy to take down" - some people about a great striker that once lost to a wrestler..

They aren't super heroes..

Hole is a weakness in their game, I don't know what your getting at. He was asking how hard is it to fix a hole later in a fighters career.
I believe it depends on the fighter. Do they focus on fixing weakness it are they just sparring and S&C

 

[Niels]

Holes is a big word.. most fighters cant throw lukes question mark kick or heavy gnp.. is that a hole?

Ngannou's got almost super human power.. is that a hole in other fighters game if they don't have his power?

No fighter will ever be complete, some will get close and rack up a good record but there are always holes..

"Why doesn't he just lower his stance, switch to south paw and work 2 years with olympic wrestlers while maintaining his good traits and stop throwing kicks, then he wouldn't be so easy to take down" - some people about a great striker that once lost to a wrestler..

They aren't super heroes..

That’s not what i was saying, Ngannou is gifted, you can’t train for that. But his wrestling was almost nonexistent against Stipe + Rockhold has good striking overall, it’s just that right hand dropping which doesn’t include dropping other facets of his game right?

 

[cevo]

Fighters do hundreds of instinctive movements in a fight, so it's hard to change all of them. Rockhold has a lot of bad habits, especially defensively, not just dropping his right hand.

Also when it's a whole discipline like wrestling, there's no guarantee that you ever get to a high level regardless of how much you train and how dedicated you are. Condit, Cerrone and Pettis are examples of this. They have been training wrestling their entires lives with high level sparring partners but they still don't evolve. A lot of it has to do with talent. Being talented for striking doesn't mean that you have the right talents for wrestling and vice versa. Also it takes thousands of hours of dedicated training to develop those skills, you can't just "train wrestling with olympic team for 6 months".

 

[kuka45]

Rockhold was KO'd by Bisping and Romero, but reason was not in details, his boxing is not that good.
Bisping's KO was more flashy and matter of good timing, but Romero knew what he was doing,there was setup before KO.

 

[yekmurat]

Thats kinda stupid question,If you work on something you got better dont you understand that???Doesnt matter if thats on fighting or dancing or skiing,more you work better you get

 

[Niels]

Thats kinda stupid question,If you work on something you got better dont you understand that???Doesnt matter if thats on fighting or dancing or skiing,more you work better you get

Except that these fighters have been training for years and habits are hard to break

 

[Niels]

Fighters do hundreds of instinctive movements in a fight, so it's hard to change all of them. Rockhold has a lot of bad habits, especially defensively, not just dropping his right hand.

Also when it's a whole discipline like wrestling, there's no guarantee that you ever get to a high level regardless of how much you train and how dedicated you are. Condit, Cerrone and Pettis are examples of this. They have been training wrestling their entires lives with high level sparring partners but they still don't evolve. A lot of it has to do with talent. Being talented for striking doesn't mean that you have the right talents for wrestling and vice versa. Also it takes thousands of hours of dedicated training to develop those skills, you can't just "train wrestling with olympic team for 6 months".

Tell me more about the holes in his defense

 

[Cpt Migraine]

Hole is a weakness in their game, I don't know what your getting at. He was asking how hard is it to fix a hole later in a fighters career.
I believe it depends on the fighter. Do they focus on fixing weakness it are they just sparring and S&C

That’s not what i was saying, Ngannou is gifted, you can’t train for that. But his wrestling was almost nonexistent against Stipe + Rockhold has good striking overall, it’s just that right hand dropping which doesn’t include dropping other facets of his game right?

Yeah.. i'm just saying the holes aren't holes until someone can exploit them.. otherwise we wouldn't have unorthodox fighters..

Yes, lukes right hand drops, but it can also work to lure fighters into a counter.. the same way silva left himself wide open just to counter guys to death..

With that said, yes.. luke should be able to get his hand up..

 

[yekmurat]

Except that these fighters have been training for years and habits are hard to break

read my sig it says dont go hard,go smart,if a fighter is smart and sees he is not evolving then he tries something different...theres always something to evolving if you can find the right way...

 

[Niels]

read my sig it says dont go hard,go smart,if a fighter is smart and sees he is not evolving then he tries something different...

Do you practice any martial arts? If you throw a shot badly it’s really hard to know unless someone else points it out, and small mistakes come at a high price at Ufc level

 

[cevo]

Tell me more about the holes in his defense

Somewhat predictable footwork moving backwards, often misgauges distance when trying to evade strikes (Romero), overreaching with his punches (Bisping), and to top it off he doesn't have a strong chin. If he had a really good chin, then maybe he would have gotten away with these bad habits.

Romero is a good example of someone who doesn't have as much experience striking, but has much better instincts defensively. GSP is another example - pretty limited striking, but rock solid fundamentals offensively and defensively.

 

[yekmurat]

Do you practice any martial arts? If you throw a shot badly it’s really hard to know unless someone else points it out, and small mistakes come at a high price at Ufc level

WTF are u talking about...Dont try to play with words,Thats a stupid thread,If you train harder and smarter you evolve...thats the easiest rule of the success...

 

[Niels]

Somewhat predictable footwork moving backwards, often misgauges distance when trying to evade strikes (Romero), overreaching with his punches (Bisping), and to top it off he doesn't have a strong chin. If he had a really good chin, then maybe he would have gotten away with these bad habits.

Romero is a good example of someone who doesn't have as much experience striking, but has much better instincts defensively. GSP is another example - pretty limited striking, but rock solid fundamentals offensively and defensively.

I think the weightcut is getting to him, he had a decent chin in his Strikeforce days. I even posted about it recently. You’re definitely right about him misgauging distance, in the Machida fight he missed the right hook, but basically flung Lyoto to the ground after Luke caught Lyoto’s head with his arm.

 

[Niels]

WTF are u talking about...Dont try to play with words,Thats a stupid thread,If you train harder and smarter you evolve...thats the easiest rule of the success...

Well you must be beating UFC champs left and right then with that mindset.

I don’t play with words. I’m certain you haven’t set a foot in a martial arts gym going by how easy you think it all is.

 

[cevo]

I think the weightcut is getting to him, he had a decent chin in his Strikeforce days. I even posted about it recently. You’re definitely right about him misgauging distance, in the Machida fight he missed the right hook, but basically flung Lyoto to the ground after Luke caught Lyoto’s head with his arm.

He quit Strikeforce in 2012, a lot of things can happen to a fighter's chin during 6 years of fighting the best. He still has a decent chin, but it's average and not great. Also he's 34 years "old" now.

Luke himself says that he only cuts 15 lbs for 185, but who knows.

 

[Niels]

He quit Strikeforce in 2012, a lot of things can happen to a fighter's chin during 6 years of fighting the best. He still has a decent chin, but it's average and not great. Also he's 34 years "old" now.

Luke himself says that he only cuts 15 lbs for 185, but who knows.

He’s one of the tallest and really muscular + he looks dead at the weigh-ins, also look what moving up did for whittaker, he has a great chin now

 

[yekmurat]

Well you must be beating UFC champs left and right then with that mindset.

I don’t play with words. I’m certain you haven’t set a foot in a martial arts gym going by how easy you think it all is.

More you talk more you sound stupid